Robert was born in 1928 in the Bronx. His mother was Jewish and his father Catholic. He once joked he took a lawyer with him when he went to Confession. He was a rebellious youth, always on the verge of getting into trouble. He questioned the practices of those around him, such as eating meat…Robert’s earliest memory was of a small, two-foot high dwarf with white hair and a white beard that would stand at the foot of his crib and jabber at him in a language he could not understand. He said the man was quite animated, and constantly ‘lectured’ him. This little man finally disappeared when Robert was seven. Years later, he was looking through a book on the teachings of Ramana Maharshi when he saw that sage’s picture. "I was shocked!" he said, "The hair on my head and neck stood straight up. The little man who had lectured me all those years was Ramana!”
“When I was 18 years old (1946), I arrived at Tiruvannamalai (a few miles from Arunachala Mountain, where lived Ramana Maharshi). I purchased flowers and a bag of fruit to bring to Ramana. I took a bullock cart to the Ashram. It was about 8:30 a.m. I entered the hall and there was Ramana on his couch reading his mail. It was after breakfast. I brought the fruit and the flowers over and laid them on his feet. There was a guardrail in front of him to prevent fanatics from attacking him with love. And then I sat down in front of him. He looked at me and smiled, and I smiled back. I have been to many teachers… but never did I meet anyone who exuded such compassion, such love, such bliss as Ramana Maharshi… He looked at me and asked me if I'd eaten breakfast. I said, "No." He spoke some Tamil to the attendant and the attendant came back with two giant leaves, one with fruit and one with some porridge with pepper. After I consumed the food, I just laid down on the floor. I was very tired. I was awakened about 5 o'clock. It was Ramana again. He came by himself and he brought me food. Can you imagine that? We spoke briefly, I ate and I slept..”
~ Robert Adams
“…Early the next day while walking back from the mountain, towards the Ashram, Robert spotted Ramana walking down the path towards him. An electrifying energy coursed through his body, and the last of what men call an ego left him. He felt completely surrendered, completely open. As Ramana got closer, Robert stripped off his clothes, approached Ramana and dropped to his guru’s feet. Ramana reached down grabbing Robert by his shoulder, and looked into Robert’s eyes with complete love and said, "I have been waiting for you. Get up! Get up!" Robert said that had Ramana asked him to leap over a cliff at that moment, he would have done so gladly…”
“…What Ramana taught was not new. Ramana simply taught the Upanishads. "Who am I" has been around since time immemorial. If a teacher always tells you they have something new to teach you, be careful, because there's nothing new under the sun. Ramana simply revised the "Who am I" philosophy and made it simple for people in the 20th Century. But what did he teach? He simply taught that you are not the body-mind principle. He simply taught that if you have a problem, do not feel sorry for yourself, do not go to psychiatrists, do not condemn yourself, simply ask yourself, "To whom does this problem come?" And of course the answer will be, "The problem comes to me." Hold onto the me. Follow the me to the source, the substratum of all existence… An easier way to do this I have found is to simply say to yourself, "I - I, I - I," and you will notice as you do this that the I, I goes deeper, deeper, deeper within you into your heart center, right to the source. For westerners I have found that saying "I – I" seems to be more helpful than "Who am I?" Again, do not look at time. Do not ask yourself, "When is something going to happen?"
“…After Ramana died, Robert wandered across India and around the world off and on during the next 35 years, having married in 1954, and raised, often in absentia, two daughters. He said when he married Nicole, she looked like Rita Hayworth. After he developed Parkinson’s during the 1980's, he settled down in Los Angeles with his family, where he began teaching, first to small groups at student’s homes, then to larger and larger crowds. He always felt he owed something to his youngest daughter for spending so little time with her as she was growing up… He also told me that the Parkinson’s was a gift, because it grounded him, ending his world travels. When he first knew he had the disease, he moved back to Los Angeles where his wife and daughter lived. He worked as handyman in a large apartment complex. His wife made clothes, which she sold, at swap meets and to various retail outlets. Eventually, because of the disease, he was no longer capable of the physical work involved and started teaching in earnest and gathering students…”
Photos ~ Ramana Maharshi
~ Robert Adams in cap (photo by Hale Dwoskin)
~ Robert Adams and Edward G. Muzika
~ Edward G. Muzika
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